Fat adaption occurs when a dog is on a high-fat, high-protein, low carbohydrate diet.
On a diet of this nutritional profile, the dog has the ability to use fat for fuel, as opposed to storing it and requiring a constant supply of carbohydrates to convert into energy. Instead, the dog can tap into the fat for a more plentiful energy source, which also means increased energy levels. Farmers reap the benefits when this process is enabled, as their working dogs have more energy and stamina.
Dogs get 2.5 times more energy from fat than from carbohydrates. With short digestive tracts and the ability to metabolise fat highly efficiently, dogs are built to use fat for fuel, metabolising 90-95% of the fat they are fed.
Fat adaptation has been found to improve aerobic performance in dogs by enhancing the oxidation of fatty acids. This spares the use of muscle glycogen and glucose and decreases lactate accumulation.
Endurance and intermediate athletes like working dogs, who partake in the prolonged exercise of low to moderate intensity, rely heavily on fat as a fuel, with muscle fibres providing energy through the aerobic oxidation of fatty acids.
The intermediate athlete (which includes working dogs) is thought to get the majority of its energy – approximately 70% to 90% – from the metabolism of fat.
Therefore, for these two types of canine athletes, feeding a high-fat diet will prepare the muscles to efficiently mobilise and use free fatty acids for energy. This in turn, spares the use of muscle glycogen and glucose, prolonging muscle glycogen stores and thus increasing stamina.
When exercising, exhaustion usually results from depletion of muscle glycogen or at its more extreme, from hypoglycaemia (a condition that develops when blood sugar levels fall too low. When the levels drop too low, the body’s cells may not have enough energy to function properly).
The dietary proportions of a fat, protein and carbohydrate diet influence the fuel selection during exercise. Acclimatisation to a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet increases muscle storage of fat and its range of utilisation, and thus increases endurance by preserving muscle glycogen stores.
In summary, when dogs eat a diet high in fat, adequate in protein and low in carbohydrates, their bodies use fat for fuel as opposed to storing fat and converting carbohydrates (glucose) for fuel. The fat is a more abundant energy supply and fat adaptation results in increased energy levels, and the muscle glycogen is preserved more effectively.